beware of the ides of march

Today is the fifteenth of March. My sermon today is about the Ides of March.

Most of you are probably thinking, “Wow, only Jimbo would remember the one-hit- wonder rock group from the 1960s and their only hit song, Vehicle.”

“I’m your vehicle, baby, I’ll take you anywhere you want to go
I’m your vehicle, baby, by now I’m sure you know…”

Okay, maybe it wasn’t the greatest song of all time, but I wasn’t thinking about them. In the Roman calendar, the fifteenth of March was called the Ides of March. You may recall it was the day that Julius Caesar was killed by some brute named Brutus. You probably recall, also, that Caesar was surprised that Brutus was a member of the gang of toughs that plotted to assassinate him. Caesar was reported to have said:

Et tu, Brute?

Roughly translated that means, “and you, Brutus?”

Had I been in Caesar’s position, I would probably have said something like, “Stop stabbing me, dude.” However, that probably wouldn’t have inspired someone like Shakespeare to write down the line for posterity.

You may also recall that in the story, a soothsayer told Caesar to “Beware of the Ides of March.”

Although I don’t think there is any particular reason to be afraid, I think we should all be careful as we go about our normal routines today and if you know anyone named Brutus, you may want to avoid him today. And if a soothsayer steps out of the crowd today to warn you to beware, listen to him, even though he probably doesn’t have any idea what he is talking about. Perhaps you should say to him, “Stop scaring me, dude.”

Anyway, have a good day and be careful.

Because you never can be too careful even in Jimbo’s world.